


Pure Grass Stains

by stillinbeta



Category: Flip Flappers (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soccer, F/F, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:29:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22730260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stillinbeta/pseuds/stillinbeta
Summary: Cocona and Papika try to win an intramural soccer league and maybe find (more) love
Relationships: Cocona/Papika (Flip Flappers), Cocona/Papika/Yayaka (Flip Flappers)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [itsCaravel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsCaravel/gifts).



“Please please please Cocona!” 

Cocona huffed and crossed her arms. “Nope. No way.” 

“But but… we need you!” Papika whined 

“Find someone else!” 

“Cocona~ there’s no-one else! I want you!” 

Then Cocona made the mistake of actually looking at her girlfriend. She had the kind of puppy-dog eyes that’d make a golden retriever jealous. 

“Pleaaaaase?” Papiko whimpered. 

It was probably the most pathetic thing Cocona had seen, at least since the last time Papika had tried to convince her of something. 

“I’m in terrible shape, though!” 

“You’ll be great! Just try it!” 

“I’ll have to get up so early!” 

“It’ll be fun! Even more time together~” 

“I haven’t played since high school!” 

“It’s like a bike, you’ll remember for sure!” 

“I don’t think I have anything to wear...” 

“It’s not so fancy. You can just borrow some shorts from me.” 

It was no use. Papika couldn’t be reasoned with once she got an idea in her head. At this point, Cocona’s best hope was just to ride it out and hope she got bored. 

“Fiiine. When do we start?” 

“Tomorrow, six AM!” 

“… I changed my mind.” 

“Nope! You’re coming with me!” 

Cocona’s life was a series of trials. But of course she loved Papika more than anything. She told herself that repeatedly as she set their alarm clock, and even more so when it went off far too few hours later. 

* * *

“Alright, everyone, listen up. My name is Doctor Salt, but you will all refer to me as ‘coach.’ I expect you all to give 110% percent on the field at all times. You will be on time for practice, rain or shine, and you will get results. I am here to train you, and you are here to listen. If you don’t think you can stick to this rigorous training schedule, I suggest you leave now.” 

Cocona stood to leave, and Papika pulled her back down. 

Salt glared at her, then continued his ‘pep talk.’ 

“This will be a hard road, folks. Five-on-Five soccer is faster and tougher than association. You will need to give it your all if you wish for the Flip Flappers to prevail this season!” 

A pink haired person sitting in front of Salt cheered enthusiastically. 

Cocona leaned toward Papika. “Is this guy for real? What kind of chuuni-” 

“Something to share with the team?” Salt boomed, interrupting her. 

Cocona rolled her eyes. “Uh, yes, sir. What kind of name is ‘Flip Flappers?’” 

“It is _your team name,_ Miss…” 

“Cocona.” 

“Miss Cocona. I expect you to respect it, or take a hike.” 

She looked around herself. “This is five-on-five soccer, right?” 

“That is correct.” 

“And you don’t play, do you?” 

“Of course not! A coach’s duty is that of a sculptor, crafting something hewn in the rock into the brilliance of the sun.” 

“… right. So, if I’m counting correctly, there are only five players here?” 

“What’s your point, Miss Cocona?” 

“If I leave, you don’t have a team, do you?” 

“BE THAT AS AT MAY,” he boomed, but was quickly cut off by a woman with long black hair. 

“Thank you for the speech, Salt! Now, why don’t we go about and do introductions and start practising?” 

Her name turned out to be “Sayuri,” and the pink-haired excitable one was “Hidaka.” The weird kid she hadn’t noticed behind them mumbled their name, but Papika just called them “Bu-chan.” 

The drills the first day were pretty easy, and Cocona got back into the groove pretty quickly. Cones were run around, laps were completed, balls were passed. 

It definitely felt awkward at first. All of Papika’s pep talk about riding a bike didn’t seem to be coming true; she felt incredibly awkward. She missed the passes, tripped over the cones, and then as the ultimate insult, tripped over a stray ball and ended up flat on her back. 

It didn’t hurt much, at least not physically. But as she lay on the grass, dew soaking through her t-shirt, she was ready to call it quits. She was tired, sore, and frustrated. 

Then Papika appeared in her vision, face full of concern. 

“Cocona! Are you okay?” 

“‘m fine. Just… resting.” 

“We gotta keep practising, though! Salt says we need to do more drills before we can scrimmage!” 

“Just… five more minutes.” 

Cocona laid her head back down on the grass. It was definitely going to have dirt in it, but the damage was done, so why worry about it? 

“Come on!” 

Papika extended a hand, and Cocona grabbed it almost automatically. Then she was back on her feet and had no excuse not to run another few laps around the field. 

What seemed like hours later, Salt finally blew on his whistle, signalling them all to finish up their stations and pack it in. Cocona felt sore in places she didn’t even know she had and was looking forward to a long hot shower. No longer than two hours. Three tops. 

“You all need to work much harder,” Salt told them. “It’s not going to get any easier.” 

Cocona couldn’t help making a face at the retreating coach. Papika saw it and giggled. Salt stopped, like he might turn around, but Cocona didn’t wait to see if he would. 

“Let’s go home,” she told her girlfriend, joining their hands. 

“Can we get doughnuts on the way? I’m starving!” 

“But we got doughnuts on the way here!” 

“Exactly! They were delicious!” 

“Seriously?” 

Then the puppy dog eyes came back out, so of course they got doughnuts again. Papika was right, they were very good. 

Papika wouldn’t stop chattering excitedly on the car ride home either. 

“Don’t you think Salt is so smart? He knows all these plays, and he makes sure everything’s perfect!” 

“I’m not so sure that’s a good thing…” 

“And Bu-chan is so incredibly flexible! He’s so small, but he covers the entire goal so well! I can’t get anything past him.” 

“Mm.” 

“And Sayuri is so patient with me! I love how gentle she is when we’re stretching, and she always smiles at everyone!” 

One of the many, many reasons Cocona had fallen for Papika was her unyielding optimism and happiness. It was almost impossible to be glum around her, even when one was tired, sore, and possibly suffering from donut-induced heartburn. By the time the two of them arrived home, Cocona almost wasn’t ready to quit the team. 

Almost. 

“Whaaat? You can’t quit!” 

“Look, I said I’d try it, right? I did, I didn’t like it, I wasn’t good at it, and honestly Hidaka kinda weirds me out.” 

“But… but we’d only be four. That’s not enough!” 

“You’d find someone else.” 

“I don’t want someone else! I want my Cocona! I want you by my side as we ride the wave to victory!” 

“That’s pretty ambitious for this early in the season.” 

“Plus, if we win the tournament, we all get a pizza party!” 

“Um, we’re adults? We can get pizza whenever we want. We had pizza for dinner last night.” 

“But it’s not a party!!” 

Cocona sighed. “Is this really about the pizza?” 

“M-maybe not. I like… I like spending time with Cocona. I like doing things with you.” 

“We do lots of things together! We’re barely ever apart!” 

“But it’s not the same. I want to play with you! I want to share the field with you!” 

“Does it really mean that much to you?” 

Papika nodded fiercely. No puppy dog eyes here, just determination. In some ways that was even worse. 

“Okay, one more day.” 

But Papika still wasn’t satisfied. “The practising is boring, so it’s no wonder you don’t like it. It’s so repetitive and same-y.” 

“Those all mean the same thing,” Cocona mumbled. 

Papika ignored her. 

“I didn’t like soccer until I played a game. You gotta feel the crowd and stare the opponents down!” 

“How much of a crowd do these matches actually get?” 

“That’s not important! But the field… it's full of possibilities! We can do anything we want out there if we put our minds to it!” 

That was probably a little excessive for a game where you weren’t even allowed to use your hands, but that kind of exaggeration was part of what Cocona loved about her girlfriend. Sometimes it was a little aggravating to make every little thing seem like the world rested on it, but that passion was amazing. Papika kept her from complacency, from the kind of depression she was so easily susceptible to. 

“Okay, okay, you’ve convinced me.” 

“Yay!” 

“One game. I can’t promise more than that, okay?” 

“It doesn’t matter. After one game, you won’t want to quit.” 

* * *

Papika was irritatingly correct, it turned out. Cocona had to be practically dragged to the next few morning workouts with the Flip Flappers. She didn’t feel like she was actually improving at all, even though Sayuri insisted she was. Probably everyone was just being polite. What choice did they have? 

But then the day of the first match came, and everything changed. 

Salt paced purposefully on the sidelines as they did their normal warm-up stretches. And in place of what Cocona had assumed would be a rousing pre-game speech, he simply nodded stiffly. 

“You know what you need to do.” 

What a weirdo. 

The referee blew his whistle, signalling the start of the match. The Snow Monsters took their place on the opposite side of the field. Because they had so few people Cocona hadn’t ever actually played a proper scrimmage, and she was nervous. If any of them got injured they’d have to forfeit, they didn’t have any substitutes. 

She and Papika were the two forwards, and she looked at her partner for guidance. If Papika was nervous, she certainly wasn’t showing it. She grinned at Cocona and _waved_ of all things. What a completely ridiculous woman. But there was no time for admiration, any second now the referee would… 

_TWEET_

And they were off. The other team took initial possession of the ball, but Papika deftly stole it back. She kicked it to Cocona, who was only momentarily confused and recovered in time to dribble it forward. She dodged around their defenders, passed back to Cocona, who caught it on a knee, shot it towards the goal and… 

The gargantuan goalie caught it. They caught it with both hands, tossing it halfway down the field towards their own forwards. Sayuri and Hidaka were waiting, though, and they didn’t even get to make a shot. 

Cocona was running on instinct at this point. She’d played the game before, and her feet basically worked themselves. The dribbles, the crossovers, the passes, all of them felt like she’d been doing them all her life. 

The plays all blurred together. The two teams were evenly matched, and the volleys went back and forth. Cocona had made a few shots on goal, but not with any real hope — she simply wanted to tire the opposing goalie out, hoping they’d eventually make a mistake. 

They began to work out a rhythm. Hidaka was better at long passes, so they’d steal the ball or get it from Sayuri. Cocona or Papika would grab the pass, most of the time, and steal it back if they missed. They’d pass back and forward a few times, take a half-hearted shot on the goal, and wait for the cycle to repeat. 

Cocona knew that they couldn’t just keep doing the same thing and hoping for a different result. Sure, they were wearing their opponents down, but they weren’t exactly superhuman themselves. One of them needed to make a serious play. 

The whistle blew, mercifully, for half-time. 

While most of the team chugged Gatorade and water, Salt sulked on the sidelines. 

“Shouldn’t you be trying to inspire us?” Cocona asked him. 

“Would it make you play harder?” he retorted. 

“Probably not.” 

“Then why bother?” 

Yikes. 

Papika was chipper, at least. 

“Are you having fun?” she asked. 

“I… Yeah, I think I am.” 

The grin would’ve been unbearable if it wasn’t so cute on her. And then Papika gave her a peck on the cheek, and Cocona practically melted. 

“Noo, not in front of the team,” she complained. 

“Will it make you play harder?” Papika asked. 

“It… It just might.” 

Then Papika leaned in close, whispering: “Wait till you see what you’ll get if we win.” 

Cocona shivered. That was the kind of motivation she could work with. She finished up the bottle of highlighter-orange liquid and stood up. 

“Let’s do this!” she exclaimed. 

Papika was right there with her, but the rest of the team looked a little worse for wear. Bu-chan looked like they were about to fall apart, and Hidaka’s smile had gone from “wild” to “potentially homicidal.” Cocona decided to give them a very wide berth during the game. 

When the whistle blew for a return to play, the only consolation was that the other team was probably equally tired. As long as they didn’t let up, they could probably… wait. Who were all those new people on the field? 

Ah. The other team had made substitutions. One of the forwards and one of the defenders had been replaced, and they looked bigger than the players they’d replaced. 

This couldn’t possibly go well. 

There was no time to come up with a new plan, and it likely wouldn’t have made a difference. Papika wasn’t really the “plan” type, and besides Sayuri the rest of the team probably wasn’t either. The whistle blew, and they were off. 

Papika managed to take possession of the ball quickly, but one of the Monsters stole it from her quickly. Sayuri intercepted a long kick down the field, but the opposing forwards were on her before she could get it back to Cocona or Papika. Another impressive kick sent the ball sailing for the goal. Bu-chan dived for the ball and caught it, a long kick sending it deep into enemy territory. But it was intercepted again. 

The volley continued for several minutes. But this wasn’t like the rhythm from the first half of the game. The Flip Flappers were exhausted, and the Monsters had fresh blood. It was really only a matter of time before someone slipped up. 

Then, seemingly at random, everything came together. Bu-chan’s throw wasn’t intercepted immediately, Hidaka managed to head it towards Papika. The Monsters, not expecting this, had left their forwards on the wrong side of the field. Papika made a pass to Cocona, and then everything just clicked. Nobody could stop her as she dribbled, fancy footwork dodging past the two defenders. She saw Papika out of the corner of her eye, but she knew she had a shot. 

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The defenders were sprinting towards her, fast as she could. The opposing goalie’s eyes widened. Her foot came down carefully, gracefully, striking the ball perfectly on the arch of her foot. It flew through the air, and Cocona held her breath. The goalie dived… and the ball sailed over them and into the goal. 

“COCONA!” 

Papika tackled her into a hug, almost knocked the wind out of her. 

“You were amazing! I knew you could do it! You’re so talented! This is so amazing!” 

“Can’t… breathe…” 

“I’m so glad you came to play with us!” 

Papika felt nice and soft, and Cocona would’ve been happy to just stay in her embrace. She’d scored a goal, that should’ve been plenty. But a cough from the referee reminded her that they weren’t the only ones here, and she quickly smoothed out her jersey. 

“Right.” 

She was hoping everything would get easier now, since they only had to worry about defence. She fell back along with Papika, trying to put more bodies between the Monsters and their goal. They didn’t spend as much effort trying to drive the ball down the field, instead making sure their passes were solid. 

But nothing’s ever that easy. Their opponents, backed into a corner, came out swinging. Not literally, of course, this wasn’t hockey, but their plays grew increasingly aggressive. The game had started off low stakes, almost friendly, but suddenly it felt like a real competition. Cocona found balls stolen from her where she could’ve easily dribbled past previously. And that was to say nothing of how physical things had gotten. 

There were several shots on goal, and only Bu-chan’s impressive aerial reach kept their lead intact. They seemed to be able to hover in front of the ball, knocking it out of the way no matter where it ended up. But they were clearly tiring and looking all the worse for wear. 

A quick glance at the make-shift score-board by the sidelines showed there were ten minutes still left in the game. Cocona couldn’t help but wish she was spending them home with Paprika, listening to Tegan and Sara or watching cat videos. You could fit a lot of cat videos into ten minutes. 

But Cocona wasn’t one to do things halfway. She kept her eyes on the ball, and so she saw exactly what happened. 

Papika had just taken a pass from Sayuri and was dribbling down the field. Out of nowhere, one of the smaller Monsters came fell into a sliding tackle, headed straight for the ball. Unfortunately for him, he missed the ball. Unfortunately for Papika, he didn’t miss her ankle. 

She fell over with a surprised gasp, and Cocona was running to her even before the referee’s whistle halted play. 

“Are you alright?” she asked frantically. 

“I’m fine. It’s just a little tumble,” Papika replied. 

But as she tried to get to her feet, she winced. 

“Take it easy. There’s no rush.” 

The referee and Sayuri were walking over as well. Sayuri was an EMT or something, which made her the closest thing they had to a medical professional. 

“Cocona…” 

“Ssh, I’m here. It’s okay.” 

Papika tried to get up again and sucked air in through her teeth. “Oww.” 

“Try to keep your weight off it,” Cocona advised. 

“That’s probably a good idea,” Sayuri chimed in. “Let me take a look.” 

She pulled out a little first aid kid and started unwrapping a bandage. 

“Does this hurt?” Sayuri poked the ankle. 

“Yow!” 

“Little bit?” 

“… Yes.” 

She turned to the referee. “It’s just a sprain, I think. But she should stay off it for the rest of the game.” 

The ref nodded. “Okay, make a substitution.” 

“Umm… we don’t have any substitutes.” 

“Ah. Well, that’s unfortunate.” 

Papika jumped up. “I’m okay, I can keep playing!” 

But her grimace told a different story, and everyone could tell. 

“It’s just a game,” Cocona told her gently. “It’s okay.” 

“If you play on it now, you’ll just make your injury worse,” Sayuri added. “You could be out for the whole season.” 

Papika pouted, but eventually let her shoulders slump and nodded. “Okay.” 

The ref blew their whistle. “Victory - Snow Monsters, by forfeit. Good game, everyone!” 

It was difficult to see behind his glasses, but it seemed like Salt was sulking even more than usual. Cocona just rolled her eyes. She and Sayuri helped Papika to the waiting car and headed home. They got extra doughnuts. 


	2. Chapter 2

It was a slow day at work, and Cocona was chilling out in the break room, poking at her phone. Papika was, predictably, asleep, so there wasn’t even anyone interesting to talk to. Instead, she’d temporarily unmuted the Flip Flappers group chat. Hidaka was ranting about some “experimental technique” they’d read about online. Once they broke out the friction coefficient of grass Cocona reached her limit, but there wasn’t a lot else to do. 

“That won’t work,” 

“GAH!” 

Her coworker Yayaka was standing behind her, peering at her phone. 

“What won’t work?” 

“That play. Regulation grass is shorter than grass on intramural fields. You have to use completely different data.” 

“What.” 

Yayaka gestured at the phone. “You’re talking about soccer?” 

“I thought we were. But this seems more like… math.” 

“Hmmph. I suppose you would say that.” 

“Now just what’s that supposed to mean?” 

Yayaka gave a tremendous smirk. “These are very high level plays. I’m surprised anyone on your team is even thinking about them.” 

“I… do you?” 

“Of course. It’s only natural when you want to win.” 

“You… you want to win a pizza party?” 

Her coworker shrugged. “Who doesn’t like pizza?” 

No arguing with that. 

“I didn’t realise you played soccer, come to think of it.” 

“It wasn’t important before now.” 

“It doesn’t have to be important! We’re friends, can’t we just talk about stuff?” 

“Acquaintances.” 

“That’s a weird thing to say, but okay. My point stands. Do you have some dark soccer backstory that you want to share with me? A potential career in the major leagues that never panned out or something?” 

“No? I’m just kind of a private person.” 

“Oh. Okay.” 

A beat, then two. Yayaka coughed. 

“So. How’s um, Papikana?” 

“Papika. And she’s okay. Twisted her ankle a little during our last match, though.” 

“Hmm. She was always reckless.” 

“Have you even met her? You don’t know anything about her!” Cocona retorted. 

In response, Yayaka just raised an eyebrow. 

“Okay yes, she can be very reckless. And impulsive. And free spirited. And… everything I’m not.” She shook her head. “But it wasn’t her fault this time! Someone did a diving slide into her. She never saw it coming.” 

“Maybe she should’ve.” 

“The other team got a red card!” 

“And then…” 

Cocona sighed. “And then we had to forfeit because we don’t have enough for any substitutes. How did you know that?” 

“I didn’t. I was just prompting you.” 

“Oh.” 

“But that’s still fascinating. The Flip Flappers truly play all of every game? Perhaps I’ve underestimated you.” 

“Thank you? I think? Why are you being so weird about this?” 

If Yayaka heard her, she didn’t acknowledge it. “Why do you play under such conditions?” 

“Um, I thought it’d be fun, I guess. And because Papika talked me into it, I guess.” 

“No higher ambitions?” 

“I mean, who doesn’t like pizza?” 

Cocona thought she saw just the barest hint of a smile. And was that… a dusting of blush? 

She looked again and Yayaka’s mask was back. Perhaps she’d just imagined it. 

“We should probably get back to work,” she announced. 

She didn’t know that she actually had anything that needed doing, but this conversation had a really weird feeling she wanted to get away from. 

“Yes. I’ll see you around, Cocona.” 

“You too.” 

* * *

Cocona didn’t expect it to be quite so soon. She saw that Yayaka was already on the soccer field, stretching with a team in matching uniforms. 

“What kind of name is Asclepius?” she asked herself. 

She sighed. She hadn’t even really wanted to come today. She turned to Papika. 

“Are you _sure_ you’re okay?” 

“Stop being such a worry-wart, Cocona! I’m fine!” 

“But what if you get hurt again?” 

“Come onnnnn, let’s go!” 

It’d been a week since Papika’s injury, and somehow she’d made a full recovery. Papika had always been particularly… durable. But Cocona wasn’t willing to let this go quite so easily. 

“Why is this so important? It’s so dangerous!” 

“You worry too much. It’s fun! Didn’t you have fun last time?” 

Cocona just looked away, because she knew she couldn’t lie. She’d been exhausted and stressed, but she’d also been really glad she came. She felt the blush touch her cheeks. 

“You’re smiling~” 

“S… so what if I am! I’m within my rights to be concerned!” 

“Whatever. Live a little!” 

“Hmph.” 

They were already here, so she figured they may as well. Not like they had a lot of choices. There were no Flip Flappers without all five of them, after all. Salt may have been optional. Cocona wasn’t convinced he did anything other than pace and glare at the opposing team. 

There was plenty to glare at this time, at least. Asclepius clearly had a backer with deep pockets. The matching uniforms looked expensive, and there was all kinds of training equipment on their side of the field. Even their snacks looked upscale. 

It was, to put it lightly, completely ridiculous. 

Cocona joined Papika and the rest of the team on their side of the field for warm-up stretches. She made eye contact with Yayaka, who acknowledged her with a nod and then pointedly ignored her for the rest of warmups. 

This was only their second game, so there wasn’t really much expectation of what a “normal” game was. But even so, they could quickly tell that this match would be different. Salt was very agitated, and Bu-chan was even more jittery than usual. 

“What’s going on?” Cocona asked Sayuri. 

“Asclepius is the best team in the league. Best coaches, best equipment, best players. I mean, relatively speaking. They’re not like, professionals. But they take everything very seriously.” 

“What happens if we lose?” 

“Nothing, really. There aren’t that many teams, probably we’ll wind up playing them again. But it’d be pretty awesome if we did win.” 

“Right.” 

“Just do your best, okay? This is supposed to be fun.” 

The ref’s whistle called them all to their starting position. Yayaka was a forward too, Cocona noticed. The other woman looked nothing like how she did at work. There she was aloof, reserved, and maybe even a little flippant. But here her focus was absolutely razor sharp. If she looked half this determined at the office half, the department would probably be out of a job. 

The whistle blew again, and Yayaka was gone. 

In the blink of an eye, she had taken possession, manoeuvred past Cocona and Papika, and was barrelling toward the defenders. Cocona swore under her breath and gave chase. 

That first few seconds ended up setting the tone of the game. While the Flip Flappers used the traditional two forwards, two defenders, one goalie, Asclepius pretty much had three forwards always on the attack. And attack was absolutely the right word. The three of them seemed to move less as players and more as a cyclone, constantly passing the balls between them in a way that left Cocona dizzy and disoriented. 

The Flip Flappers put up what Cocona liked to think was a valiant effort, but by the time the whistle was blown for half time they were down four-nil. 

“Maybe we should just forfeit again,” Cocona grumbled. “I don’t really see us turning this around.” 

“Aww, don’t be so glum Cocona! We don’t have to score the most points to win!” Papika sipped happily on her sports drink, oblivious to everyone else’s gloom. 

“We don’t?” 

“We just need to have fun!” 

“Ah, of course.” 

“And of course,” Hidaka chimed in, “The more we play the more data we collect! We must observe them as closely as possible, so that we may analyze their moves and defeat them in the future!” 

“And it’d be poor sportsmanship to give up now,” Sayuri added. 

Bu-chan mumbled in agreement. 

“Fine, fine. I was only kidding, anyway.” 

Cocona had been, at best, half-kidding, but her teammates had a point. Instead of focusing on defeating the other team, which she couldn’t control, she should focus on doing her best, which she could. 

“Papika?” she asked. 

“Yeah?” 

“We should focus on our passing more. We can’t dribble past these opponents, but maybe we can try their own technique against them.” 

“Mm!” 

Salt nodded at her approvingly. Maybe this would work after all. Maybe this could even save the game! 

After the sixth goal scored on them, she had pretty much given up on tying the score. But what they _had_ accomplished was two goals shot on the most intimidating team in the league. She really felt like she and her girlfriend were in complete sync. And when the whistle blew on a seven-three loss, the two of them rushed each other like they’d just won the League Cup. 

They felt into each other’s arms, panting a laughing. Papika planted a big kiss on her forehead, and Cocona responded in kind. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Yayaka looking at them with an unreadable expression. Whatever, let her stare! They were having fun, and they loved each other. This was the best soccer match she’d ever played 

* * *

The evening found them at a bar called Pure Illusion near their apartment, celebrating their loss. The bartender had looked at them a little funny when the two of them had told him the occasion, but at this point the whole bar was used to at least Papika’s antics. 

The two of them cuddled up to each other in a little alcove when they happened to notice someone walking in the front door, looking morose. 

“Hey,” Papika said. “Isn’t she on Asclepius?” 

Not just any Asclepius player, either. There was Yayaka, in the flesh and ordering a martini in their local. 

“Yeah. Actually, she’s my coworker, so—” 

“Hello! Miss Asclepius Lady! Over here!” 

“-don’t draw attention to us,” Cocona finished under her breath. 

But of course the damage was done, and an uncharacteristically nervous Yayaka walked over and took a seat opposite them in their nook. 

“Hi, Cocona. This must be Papika.” she said. 

“Woahh! You two know each other?” 

“From work,” Cocona nodded. 

“This is like fate then! Maybe we were destined to meet!” 

“I… sure, Papika,” Cocona said. “It’s just like fate.” 

There was an awkward silence after that for a second. Yayaka poked at her olive, while Papika focused excitedly on stirring her drink. 

“Um. Sorry about the shut-out today. I thought we should let up a little bit, but I was overruled.” Yayaka finally said. 

“Oh, don’t worry about it! We had a good time, didn’t we?” 

Cocona agreed. It felt a little silly, saying it to someone else, but it was true. 

“We learned a lot from watching you!” Papika added excitedly. 

“Oh?” That got Yayaka’s attention. “Do tell.” 

“No way! Those are like, team secrets!” Papika countered. 

“The things you learned… from watching my team play… are your team’s secrets,” Yayaka said carefully. 

“Well, when you put it like that it does sound a little silly…” 

Yayaka was holding a martini which seemed a bit much to Cocona. This was the kind of bar you usually just got well drinks and cheap beer at. It was a miracle they even _had_ vermouth. 

“Shouldn’t you be out celebrating with your team?” Papika asked. 

“Celebrating what?” Yayaka laughed. “We won one game. And you weren't all that much of a challenge.” 

As if noticing Papika’s frown, she added, “No offense.” 

Papika smiled brightly. “It’s okay! We had a good time.” 

“That’s... good.” 

“What about you? Did you enjoy playing us?” Papika pressed. 

“We won.” 

Papika frowned. “But did you have fun?” 

“Hmph.” Yayaka just sipped her martini. 

“So what brings you here?” Cocona asked. “I don’t think I’ve seen you here before.” 

“I was just in the neighbourhood.” 

“You sure you’re not here on some reconnaissance mission?” Cocona joked. 

“We wouldn’t bother surveilling the Flip Flappers.” 

“Um.” 

It was impossible to tell if Yayaka was joking. She chuckled nervously, just in case, but the atmosphere at the table was tense. 

Fortunately, they had a Papika, and she could diffuse pretty much anything. 

“Enough talk about soccer. Let’s just have a good time. If Yayaka doesn’t believe in fun we’ll show her!” 

Papika quickly downs her drink. It was only her first, thankfully, or Cocona would be very concerned. 

The other two stare at her. Then Yayaka shrugs and downs her drink. 

“What the hell. Lead on!” 

Pure Illusion was a nice bar, but it was quiet. If they were going to make a real night out of this, they needed somewhere a lot livelier. And luckily, they knew just the place: the club where the two of them had met all those years ago, The Pipefort. 

They took the tram together, chatting all the way. Yayaka turned out to be a lot friendlier than she was at work or on the pitch. It turned out that she had been playing soccer since elementary school (Papika’s no soccer rule having been abandoned soon after it was instituted). But she had other hobbies too - she did gymnastics and even had taken a class on sword fighting. It was definitely extra, but it was charming in its own way. 

The club was already busy when they showed up, but they fortunately had the cachet to cut past the line. And once they were inside, the night could really begin. 

Cocona could never really manage to keep up with Paprika on the dance floor. To say she was energetic was a tremendous understatement — she was more like a force of nature, moving in ways that hardly seem possible. But Yayaka had absolutely no trouble keeping up. At one point Cocona gave up entirely and went to say down in the corner, nursing a ginger ale. Every once in a while a cheer would go up from the dance floor when the other two pulled off something spectacular. 

Apparently unstoppable forces of nature get tired after a while, though, and soon enough they join her in the booth, laughing and sweating. She passed both of them glasses of water so they didn’t pass out of dehydration. 

“Sounded like you two were having fun,” she teased. 

“Yayaka is an amazing dancer,” Papika gushed. “And she’s really cute!” 

Yayaka choked on her drink. Cocona felt her face flush. But that was Papika for you — honest to a fault. 

“I’m... gonna go use the restroom,” Yayaka said. 

She was blushing too, and she scurried away quickly in the direction of the ladies’ room. 

As soon as she was out of earshot, Cocona turned to her girlfriend. 

“What are you doing? You can’t just say things like that!” 

“But it’s true!” 

Cocona glanced over at the door to the toilets. “Of course it’s true! But you can’t just come out and say it!” 

“Why not?” 

“It’s embarrassing! And... Well, we haven’t talked about this. We’re exclusive, aren’t we? You’re not already seeing other people are you?” 

“Of course not! I love my Cocona. But maybe I want to... sample a little Yayaka?” 

“Do you have to say it like that?” Cocona complained. 

But it did have her thinking. There was no denying that her coworker was cute. And if Papika didn’t mind... what was the harm, really? It wasn’t like they were plastered, either. Just one drink each for the entire night. 

When Yayaka returned to the table, Cocona looked at her with new eyes. The way she was walking, the glint in her eyes? There was no doubt about it. There was something there. A spark. 

From then on, the three of them only had eyes for each other. Lidded gazes, lingering touches, slight smiles. Nobody said anything, but anyone needed to. And when Papika suggested that maybe it was time to head home, there was no question of where they would all end up. 

The walk home was punctuated by giggles and glances. Cocona wasn’t always great at understanding body language, but she knew Yayaka was interested. But when they arrived at her, and Papika’s apartment door, she suddenly lost her nerve. 

“Do um. Do you want to come up and have some coffee?” She asked nervously. 

Yayaka scoffed and rolled her eyes, and Cocona’s heart sank. Had she really misread the situation that badly? 

“Ohhh, you’re blushing,” Papika teased. 

“S-shut up,” Yayaka muttered. 

“Is that yes?” 

“Yeah. Yeah that actually sounds really nice.” 

Luckily they had decaf. The three of them sat nervously on the couch, sipping as a way of avoiding conversation. The tension in the air was palpable, but nobody quite had the courage to break the ice. Even Papika, who usually couldn’t stop talking even when she needed to, couldn’t quite figure out the right thing to say. 

It was so ridiculous. They’d all come there, they all liked each other, and they’d all been flirting all evening. And here they were, nursing drinks like nervous high schoolers. 

It was so ridiculous, in fact, that Cocona actually started laughing. 

“What’s so funny, Cocona?” Papika asked. 

“Us! We’re adults, we all know what we want here. Yayaka, you’re into this, right.” 

“Mhm.” 

“Do you…” Cocona stumbled, realising what she was doing, but pulled through. “Can I kiss you?” 

Yayaka blushed again. It was absolutely adorable. “Mhm.” 

Cocona put down her coffee and scooted over on the couch. She put her arm around the other girl. 

“Is this okay?” 

“Yeah. Yeah, it’s… nice.” 

Their faces inched closer together. Then Yayaka closed the gap, and… 

Well, it wasn’t like kissing Papika. She was surprisingly timid, and she tasted very much like cheap coffee. But the spark was still there, and the snap of tension from the evening felt absolutely amazing. There was Papika too, coming in from the other side. The night was just getting started. 


	3. Chapter 3

Yayaka wasn’t there when they woke up. There wasn’t even a note. Cocona was a little disappointed, but they never really talked about where exactly this was gonna go. She told herself that it was just a one-night thing, that she didn’t really care. But even if she actually believed that, Papika was noticeably less upbeat than usual. 

She still saw Yayaka, of course. They were coworkers, and even if they weren’t in the same department, they couldn’t completely avoid each other. But it seemed an awkward thing to bring up at work, so she just nodded politely and pretended nothing was wrong. 

And in the meantime, the soccer season continued unabated. 

As it turned out, Asclepius were the toughest opponents they faced. Their defeat had strengthened them, and slowly but surely the six of them turned into a proper team. The most impressive change was that Papika no longer needed to beg Cocona to leave for practice in the morning. Sometimes Cocona was even the first one up, drinking protein smoothies before her girlfriend’s alarm even went off. 

And so, little by little, they climbed up the rankings of their league, and that pizza party began to feel like it was in reach. 

"Papika! I’m open!” Cocona called. 

The girl made a big show of turning around to look for the source of the sound, but didn’t pass it to her. Instead, she kicked the ball back to Hidaka, who wasn’t expecting a downfield pass. They scrambled to catch it as it rolled passed, but the opposing Dustbunny intercepted it handily. Bu-chan intercepted the shot on goal, but the Flip Flappers were on the back foot for the next few minutes as they tried to find their groove. 

At half-time, Cocona confronted Papika. 

“Why didn’t you pass to me?” 

“Why didn’t you fold the laundry this morning like I asked?” 

“That’s what this is about?” 

Papika sniffed. “I… not really. But I was really excited to wear my new shirt to work today, and it got all wrinkled.” 

“Oh, Papi… I’m sorry.” 

“It’s… It’s not a big deal! It shouldn’t be a big deal.” 

“But it matters to you, doesn’t it?” 

“Y… yeah.” 

The two of them embraced, giving each other a quick kiss. Salt coughed loudly in the background. They both ignored him. 

The most important thing Cocona realised was that if she and Papika weren’t doing well off the field, they couldn’t simply put it aside when it came time to play. They needed to be connected, linked, synchronised. Otherwise they made basic mistakes, like passing to teammates that weren’t there, or ignoring obvious openings, or even running into one another. 

“Owwwww,” Cocona whined. 

At this point she was going to need to start wearing shin guards. 

“Papika, are you okay?” 

“Ughhhhh.” 

“I’ll take that as a yes.” 

The ref came up to them, Sayuri trailing behind her. 

“You ploughed right into her,” she admonished. “I’m giving you a yellow card.” 

“What?!” Sayuri gasped. “But they’re on the same team!” 

“It looked deliberate.” 

“Is that even in the rules?” 

“Hey, be glad it’s not a red card.” 

It hadn’t been intentional, Cocona admitted to herself, but it was definitely still avoidable. She’d been making a point to ignore Papika after a dispute over groceries the previous day. 

“I’m sorry love,” she whispered. 

Papika just nodded. “It’s okay. I’m very durable!” 

“Talk after the match?” 

“Of course!” 

It was a tremendous amount of pressure for their relationship. Cocona remembered how nervous she was when she first asked Cocona to move in with her — were they actually that close? Was she The One? What if this destroyed everything they’d built so far? — but in the end it was amazing. She got to wake up next to her beloved every single morning, and they’d never been closer together. 

Somehow, this had worked out the same way. It was so easy to let these little issues fester. Things that seemed small at home turned into big issues on the field where they needed to be perfectly in sync. 

Their teammates noticed, too. 

“Hey, Cocona?” 

Sayuri flagged her down while they were stretching. 

“What’s up?” she replied. 

“Did you and Papika have another fight?” 

“Fight? No, we don’t fight.” 

“A… disagreement then.” 

“I don’t think so… wait. I did forget to put the leftovers away last night. Could that be it?” 

The two of them looked over at Papika, who was grumbling to a baffled Bu-chan. 

“I’ll… I’ll go talk to her.” 

Another day, it was Salt of all people. 

“Cocona.” 

“Y-yes?” 

“You seem…” He coughed. “Upset. Are you well?” 

“I think so.” 

“Things are well with Papika?” 

“They’re fine.” 

“See that they are.” 

And then he slunk off. Honestly, it was terribly disorienting hearing any amount of emotional intimacy from him, but in general their teammates suddenly cared a lot about their forwards’ relationship status. It was certainly a self-serving interest, but it was touching in its own way. 

And as their communication improved, they started winning. They started winning a lot. The team that cheered their single goal on a 10-1 shut-out suddenly began to pull ahead of the pack. The rematch with the Snow Monsters was almost no contest. The Dust Bunnies managed only a single goal to the Flip Flappers’ four. And a team of weird school girls didn’t score at all. 

That was a very weird team. They laughed in unison, which was extremely disconcerting, but luckily they were not particularly good at soccer. 

Every once in a while they’d spot Yayaka on another pitch during their games. It was clear that Asclepius hadn’t become any less intimidating, despite the Flip Flappers advances. But more upsetting was how pointedly Yayaka had been ignoring them. A few times Papika had run over after their games, but Yayaka had always taken off by the time she got there. Talking to her teammates wasn’t any better: they answered in weird half-sentences and seemed perplexed that the Flip Flappers were talking to them in the first place. 

Eventually, they both stopped trying to make contact with her. They hadn’t seen Yayaka at Pure Illusion, and she was pointedly ignoring Cocona at the office. She gained this almost mythical status in their relationship as the one who got away. And as the season wore on, and they found themselves falling more and more in love, they pushed her to the back of her mind. 

* * *

The league wasn’t organised enough to have an official ranking anywhere. But there weren’t that many teams, and given how well they’d been playing, it was all but a given that the finals would be between the Flip Flappers and Asclepius. 

It always seemed impossibly far away, though. Even as the weeks ticked by, the air getting chillier and the leaves slowly falling, it was quite a surprise when the finals were suddenly the next weekend. 

Salt, who had only chilled out slightly, was glaring at all of them during practice. The only difference was the few curt nods when an exercise was performed to his satisfaction, in addition to the irritated scoffing when drills went awry. 

The most important thing, of course, was that Cocona had never felt closer to Papika. They’d had an excellent dinner last night, all the chores had been done, and they’d spent the night in bed watching their favourite show. She gave her girlfriend a little peck on the cheek, and it was hard not to notice her team sigh in relief. 

That was still a little weird, but at least Salt didn’t roll his eyes anymore. He was always wearing sunglasses, but you could tell when he was rolling his eyes. 

Asclepius filed out onto the field opposite them, resplendent in their uniforms and shiny cleats. Even if they’d never played them before it was obvious they meant business. But this time the Flip Flappers wouldn’t be quite so easily intimidated. 

When the ref blew the whistle for the start of the match, the two teams lined up for a good old-fashioned staring match. And that, of course, meant finding themselves face to face with Yayaka for the first time since… well. Since that night. 

“Yayaka! Hello!” Papika had apparently not gotten the memo about intimidating staring, but unfortunately for her Yayaka had. She pointedly ignored the other girl, and Cocona could feel the disappointment from here. 

“Later,” she whispered to her girlfriend. 

That seemed to, if not satisfy, at least mollify Papika. She set her jaw and looked at the other Asclepius forward, number twenty-two. 

Of course she couldn’t keep that serious face up for long and immediately broke into a grin. Papika couldn’t not be Papika, after all. 

The ref gave the obligatory speech about having fun and playing safe, and then everyone was lining up. This was it. The whistle blew and… 

For a while everything was a blur. This was, by far, the toughest match that the Flip Flappers had ever had. In their first matchup, the Flip Flappers may as well not have been there. Their opponents dribbled passed them, passed through them, shot far above them. In some ways that was easier — it didn’t matter whether they tried or not, so they may as well take it easy. 

This time, though, they could not even flinch. Cocona would blink and the ball at her feet would be halfway across the field, and only a sprint from Sayuri or a frantic dive from Bu-chan would keep it out of their net. 

She looked over at Papika. The girl was panting already, but she was also grinning from ear to ear. That alone gave Cocona another burst of speed. There was nothing quite like her girlfriend’s smile to put a bit of pep in her step. And they absolutely needed all the pep they could get. 

A whistle blew from the sidelines — an Asclepius kick had gone out of bounds, and that meant a throw-in. Hidaka was their best bet for that, and everyone lined up on the field. Cocona scratched her ear, and that nodded, signalling that she’d be the intended recipient of the throw. 

Whether Asclepius knew their signal or not, Yayaka ended up directly next to her, sporting a smirk of her own. That was probably some kind of twisted mind game, she knew, but it was hard not to be distracted. Especially when she thought about the way Yayaka had smirked after… 

Ah, there was the ball. Yayaka intercepted it. The mind games were absolutely in full swing. But Cocona had a secret weapon in her undying love for her girlfriend. Papika’s smile erased the hazy memory of their tryst. Cocona stole the ball back from a surprised Yayaka and sprinted down the field. 

Papika was right there with her, and the Asclepius goons couldn’t stop them as they passed the ball back and forth. Salt was yelling something from the sideline, but she absolutely couldn’t hear anything but the wind in her ears as they approached the goalkeeper. She knew Papika was the better kicker, so she made one final pass before moving to fake out remaining defenders. 

It worked! One of them cut left with her, and she drew the goalie’s eyes for a couple precious seconds, and the ball arced gracefully over their head and into the goal. 

There weren’t any fireworks, but there may as well have been for the emotions rushing through her. She grabbed Papika and kissed her as hard as she could, absolutely not caring who was looking or scoffing behind them. 

But then, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Yayaka. And rather than resolved or even bitter, she looked… sad, maybe even wistful. That was weird. 

But there wasn’t time to dwell on that. They had a slim lead, but the game wasn’t close to over. And she knew their opponents would play all that much harder now that they were backed into a corner. 

The kick-off didn’t go their way. Asclepius took the ball right off the bat, driving hard down the field. Various defenders on both sides made long kicks down the field, but it was absolutely a game of attrition, and Asclepius had a deeper (namely, existent) bench. The Flip Flappers needed another goal to shore up their lead while they were fresh. 

Unfortunately, the goalie had learned from Cocona’s diversion trick, and the next few shots landed safely in gloved hands. It didn’t seem to matter what corner the shot went into, the keeper was like a robot. 

And speaking of robots, poor Bu-chan was clearly worse for wear. A couple of magnificent dives saved the Flip Flappers modest lead, but you could practically see the birds circling around their head. 

It was really just a matter of time until something gave, and unfortunately that time was up. It started off with a simple corner kick from Yayaka. Papika intercepted it, and the goons took it back. Then 22 made a tremendously powerful shot on the goal. Bu-chan dived for it, caught it, saved it… and then careened straight into the goalpost with a resounding _clang_. 

The whistle blew, and everyone ran over to them, hoping they were okay. And okay to keep playing. It was selfish, but the game was going really well and Cocona really wanted to show the fancy pants team up. 

The finals had an actual medic, so thankfully it wasn’t up to Sayuri to make the call to dash their pizza party hopes. But sadly they were dashed nonetheless. Poor Bu-chan quite possibly had a concussion, and not only could they not keep playing, the medic recommended an ambulance take them to a hospital. 

The Flip Flappers were all frustrated, of course. Their party was within reach, only to be snapped away! But maybe next year they’d find a sixth person, and they could have a substitute. It was funny how Cocona had gone from looking forward to the end of practice to anticipating the next season. Sometimes Papika was a pretty smart lady. 

Just as Salt was about to go and concede the match to the opposing coach, though, someone unexpectedly walked up to the melancholy Flip Flappers. 

“I hear you’re down a player,” Yayaka said. 

“Are you here to rub it in?” Salt scoffed. 

“I was actually planning on asking if you need a ringer,” she replied curtly. 

Wait. What? 

“Explain,” Salt said gruffly. 

“You're down a player, aren't you? I'm very good at soccer, and I'm willing to be your fifth.” 

“But... Why?” Sayuri asked. 

She was still sitting on the bench, generally looking perplexed by the whole situation. 

“Maybe I want to see Asclepius go down. Maybe I just wanna play more soccer. Maybe -” she looked directly at Cocona, “- maybe I've decided there's more to life than winning.” 

Was Yayaka _blushing?_

Cocona looked over at Papika, one eyebrow raised. Paprika was absolutely beaming, grinning from ear to ear back at their new teammate. 

Huh. 

“Is that even legal?” Cocona wondered aloud. 

“Probably.” Hidaka yelled. “Not like there's much of a rulebook for this league!” 

“...Fair enough.” 

“I want to play with Yayaka!” Papika exclaimed, grabbing the girl from behind. 

She shook Papika off and tried to look dignified, but she was _absolutely_ blushing. 

She caught Cocona's eye and mouthed “we'll talk later.” 

Then she winked. Suddenly Cocona wasn't sure she wanted to keep playing after all. 

But Yayaka shrugged on one of the Flip Flappers pinnies on top of her fancy jersey, and started walking onto the field. 

As Hidaka had guessed, the volunteer ref took one look at the newest Flip Flapper, shrugged, and blew his whistle to get the rest of Asclepius back on the field. 

Some of her former teammates gave Yayaka an odd look, and the coach was glaring daggers at her, suggesting she hadn't exactly run this decision by them first. But other than some broken sentences from 22 and 33, nobody tried to stop her from joining. And so with another blow of the whistle, the game was back on. 

Roughly one second into play Cocona realised they probably should've taken some time to figure out what the game plan was. For one thing, Yayaka had been a forward which meant the Flip Flappers now had three forwards, two defenders, and no goalie. Their opponents noticed this too, and suddenly there were a lot of shots on their now untended goal. 

Hidaka and Sayuri did their best, but it was only a matter of time until something made it past them. 

And another thing. 

By the time the whistle blew for half time, the Flip Flappers had gone from up by one to down by two. And there was still a deep bench on the other side of the field. 

The first change Salt made was to throw Bu-chan's goalie gear at Hidaka, who had never been one before but was at least tall. Cocona became the second defender, probably because she wasn’t as fast as Yayaka. 

Yayaka wasn’t afraid to make some suggestions of her own, either. 

“Sayuri, please keep your eye on the ball. I know you’re worried about Papika but she can take care of herself, and you’re gonna run into someone. Cocona, you pass the ball with your right foot every time, that’s why I always stole the ball from you. Switch it up. Papika…” 

Salt rolled his eyes. Cocona tried to communicate “this is what it feels like” to him using only her eyebrows. 

Yayaka’s suggestions were mostly right, and somehow that was worse than if they’d been wrong. But they were playing better than a team that had literally never practised together could be expected to. That is to say, they were holding their ground, and slowly gaining it back. 

Their first goal felt like a fluke. Cocona kicked the ball long down the field, and Yayaka managed a header towards the goal. It looked like it wasn’t going to go in, but then Papika came out of nowhere with an impressive vertical kick and it sailed over the goalie’s head. 

The second goal felt more earned. Yayaka managed a trick pass where she looked to be kicking up to Papika, but actually passed it behind her to Cocona. With a nod from Sayuri, Cocona drove down the field toward the goal. Just when the forwards caught up with her, she passed it to Papika who immediately kicked it to the top right of the goal. The ball grazed the goalie’s fingers, but it went in nonetheless. 

That meant, with an appropriate level of drama, that there was less than a minute on the clock (actually just the ref’s wristwatch) and the score was tied two-all. 

Salt called a timeout, but Yayaka led the strategy meeting. He was visibly annoyed. 

“Cocona, I don’t want the ball to touch our side of the field. Kick it long any time it crosses the line.” 

“But what if they intercept it?” 

“Intercept it back.” 

Sure, okay. 

“Sayuri, same thing. Papika… don’t pass it to me. They know how I play, but you’re an unknown quantity. You’re going to need to take this home.” 

“Aye-aye, captain!” 

“Don’t call me that. Are we all ready?” 

“Yes!” 

“Flip Flappers on three,” Papika called. “One. Two…” 

“FLIP FLAPPERS!” 

If the rest of the match had been a blur, this last minute felt like slow-motion. The ball seemed to glide lazily toward her, giving her plenty of time to find Papika and kick the ball down the field. Asclepius was good, but they were better. She hoped. 

A couple of times the forwards surged past her and made a shot on poor Hidaka, who yelled something incomprehensible while blocking the ball. It was nothing short of miraculous that he managed it. 

And then… the chance came. Cocona got the ball, and nobody was guarding Papika. She kicked the ball in a perfect arc, and Papika caught it with a big grin. Then she made her own shot, and it sailed higher, higher, lower… straight into the goal. 

The ref called time. The world resumed normal speed. She ran towards her girlfriend, wrapping her up in the biggest hug she could manage. And suddenly, there was Yayaka, right beside her. Caught up in the moment, she gave the other girl a kiss on the cheek as well. 

“Oh, Yaya, sorry, I…” she started, realising her mistake. 

“No, don’t apologise. It was… nice.” 

With an absolutely magnificent grin, Papika gave her a big kiss as well. 

* * *

The pizza wasn’t actually all that good. But the seven of them (Bu-chan had made a full recovery) couldn’t have asked for a better afternoon than the one spent at a strip-mall pizza joint, eating off paper plates and drinking flat soda. 

But that wasn’t all. After the party had subsided, Cocona and Papika went and sought out the newest Flip Flapper. 

“So. You got your pizza party,” Yayaka said. 

“Mhmm!” Papika nodded happily. “All because of our Yaya!” 

“Oh, I was just in the right place at the right time.” 

“Nuh-uh. You were so helpful. Even with Bu-chan we couldn’t have beat you!” 

“Yeah, probably,” Yayaka agreed. 

“But then you learned the power of true friendship,” Cocona teased. 

“Ah, is that what we are now? Friends?” Yayaka asked. 

“Do… do you not want to be?” 

“Honestly? I was thinking something a little more… friendly.” 

And then, for the first time since that night, Yayaka kissed Cocona. There was no nervousness, no preamble, no pretense. Just two girls who cared about each other. 

Three girls. Papika was not one to be left out, and she quickly captured Yayaka’s lips. 

If kissing Yayaka made her heart flutter, watching the girl kiss her girlfriend made it thunder. The two of them were absolutely beautiful together. She could absolutely get used to this. 

The three of them started to head towards Casa Cocomine. They walked three abreast, hands in hands. But when they got to the door of the apartment, Cocona stopped. 

“Yayaka… I don’t want this to be another fling. I want… I want you to be there when we wake up. And if you can’t do that, I don’t think you should come in.” 

In response, Yayaka gave her another kiss on the cheek. 

“I’m not going anywhere.” 

Cocona closed the door shut behind them. 


End file.
